1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to radio telecommunication systems and, more particularly, to a system and method of providing network support in a radio telecommunications network for a group of office extension phones.
2. Description of Related Art
For telecommunication system operators, investments in the local loop (the final connection from the local exchange to the subscriber's premises) represent a very large percentage of their costs, typically around 50 percent, due to the extensive and labor-intensive civil engineering work involved. The local loop also represents a large portion of operational costs because maintenance and repair in this part of the network are costly and time-consuming.
The local loop is of increasingly strategic importance to operators as a means of controlling the delivery of service to subscribers and because of its impact on operators' costs. At the same time, the size of the investment required for competing operators to match the capabilities of an incumbent operator means that introducing real competition in the local loop poses considerable problems. However, new fibre-based solutions, flexible multiplexers, compact remote concentrators, and new solutions for telecommunication services over cable-TV networks are examples of technologies now used by operators to build more effective access networks. The benefits of such technologies, however, have been slow to appear in the local loop. A system and method for providing the final connection from the local exchange to the subscriber's premises more rapidly and in a more cost-effective manner are needed.
Although there are no known prior art teachings of a solution to the aforementioned deficiency and shortcoming such as that disclosed herein, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,042 to Soury et al. (Soury) discusses subject matter that bears some relation to matters discussed herein. Soury discloses a device for setting up and routing telephone calls between subscribers of a radio telephone network and/or a wired telephone network. Soury utilizes an automatic telephone exchange which is wired to the wired telephone exchange and connected to the radio telephone network by a plurality of radio transceivers via a radio connecting unit. The radio connecting unit enables an organization of the radio telephone subscribers into groups communicating on a same frequency and/or on a same transmission channel.
FIG. 1 of Soury, however, shows on the mobile subscriber side of the automatic telephone exchange that a given transceiver can only be connected to a unique mobile subscriber terminal. It would be advantageous to have a system in which, for greater sing efficiency, a single transceiver can be connected to a plurality of mobile terminals. In this manner, a group of transceivers can be utilized as a pool of resources to serve a greater number of mobile terminals. In addition, it would be desirable to have a radio network implementation that enables calls to be delivered to appropriate extension numbers. Such a solution would provide the final connection from the local exchange to the subscriber's premises more rapidly and in a more cost-effective manner. The present invention provides such a system and method.
Review of each of the foregoing references reveals no disclosure or suggestion of a system or method such as that described and claimed herein.